1、AlertTsar-struckHow Vladimir Putin uses thehistory of the Russian EmpireMARCH 2022Niels Drost*On February 24,Vladimir Putin shocked the world by starting a war in Ukraine.In the run-up to the Russian invasion,Putin delivered far-reaching speeches and wrote an article to legitimise his actions packed
2、 with intense rhetoric on imperial as well as Soviet history.This is,however,not something new.Putin has consistently instrumentalised history to achieve his policy goals since the day he became president.1 Over the years,he has increasingly and repeatedly referred to the history of the Russian Empi
3、re,as a discourse analysis of over 500 of his speeches and other sources over the years reveals.21 This research was conducted at Utrecht University(UU)in fulfilment of the MA in International Relations in Historical Perspective.See the UU thesis archive for the complete research results.2 Much has
4、been written about the ways in which Putin has instrumentalised the history of World War II and the Soviet Union,but less about how he uses the history of the Russian empire.Reuters*The author would like to thank prof.Beatrice de Graaf for her supervision and invaluable feedback during the research
